Were Dwarves attracted to Elves?

[Galin]

Originally Posted by Galadriel

I think this thread has deviated from 'were Dwarves attracted to Elves' to 'explain how Gilmi was attracted to Galadriel'

And I've no problem with that; I was wondering if it's all agreed that Gimli's example at least suggests that some Dwarves can be physically attracted to Elves (despite that there is more to Gimli's specific attraction to Galadriel than mere physical appearance).

In other words I'm wondering if there's anyone out there who doesn't agree with that much. Perhaps not, since it's such an arguably narrow enough point, but I can't say I've never been surprised when chatting Tolkien on the web!

I'm not sure I would note -- let's say for a theoretical website article or something -- that Gimli is certainly proof of some sweeping point about physical attraction between the races (I likely wouldn't even raise the matter actually), but on the other hand I'm not sure why he need be singular among Dwarves in finding Elven-women beautiful; again, even if his deeper devotion to Galadriel herself was historically more singular.

[Formendacil]

Quite apart from the case of Gimli (who, in any case, is too much of an apparent exception to be looked at too closely except as evidence that it is possible), I don't think it is, ontologically, a problem to say that Dwarves would find Elves attractive--assuming they could get over several thousand years of racial hatred and an understandable preference for the familiar over the unfamiliar (which is as much or more likely a default as trite saying that "opposites attract").

The reason I think this has to do with the origins of the Dwarves: Aulë made them because he was impatient for the Eruhíni (so were the other Valar, but that's decide the point). They were also made in imitation of them. On these bases, I think it is likely to posit that the Dwarves would still recognise Elves as the ideal on which they were based--even if it was only in some sort of subconscious matter. After all, I highly doubt the Dwarves would go around saying "we're poorly patterned copies off the Elven original."

The chief way to counter this, I suspect, would be to say that when Eru gave them souls, he also gave them a distinct sense of beauty and/or a preference for their own kind. While this is undoubtably true in part, I shy away from saying that Eru would have categorically overridden their recognition of the bodily beauty of those on which they were patterned. After all, Eru did not so much turn Aulë's creation into the Children he was trying to imitate, but merely gave them what Aulë could not: independence and a soul. Thus, it seems to me that the Dwarves would be able to recognise, by themselves, what Aulë had recognised before them--namely the beauty of the Elves.

None of which answers the question certainly, but I think it's a good starting point.

[Archaic Elf]

You can admire the way something looks without falling in love with it. You can see a sunset and think it looks amazing and wish you could capture the color of the sky in a painting and gaze at it forever. Gimli kind of did that with Galadriel's hair by placing it in a necklace and using it as a family heirloom.

Gimli may have loved Galadriel but he probably didn't want to marry her. He admired her and considered her a true friend. He would probably be pleased to hang out with her often, but that would probably be enough.

There are just so many levels to the concept of love...